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10 April 1882 — Inwood, Henstridge, Somerset | |
Monday. 10th April [1882]. Easter Monday. We breakfasted at 9 & at 9.30 Merthyr & Theo went out hunting & Maria, Richard, the twins & I went in the waggonette to the meet wh was at a village called Middlemarsh some 12 miles off. The drive was beautiful—the hedges lined with flowers & the sun quite hot. When we got to the meet we got out of the carriage & looked abt us. We saw Lord Digby & his daughter Terry, Mrs Portman, & Capt. Medlycott. I sat on a log by a sawpit in the sun & worked but soon found it so hot I had to move into the shade. Maria, Richard & the children went into the fields to pick daffodils & they got quantities of flowers & roots of them which we put into the carriage & took home with us. We drove home thro Sherborne & turned from our direct road in order to go round & see the Great Abbey Church which has a most splendid roof & which has been beautifully restored abt 25 years ago. We went into a tuck shop near the grammar school & bought some buns & ginger beer & then refreshed set off home—getting to Inwood at about 2.30. We found Henry & Lady Westr waiting lunch for us. Dr Wiblin had returned to Southampton. All the afternoon I remained on the sofa in the boudoir & Lady Westr entertained us with many curious stories. She showed us a little turquoise heart ring wh she wore & wh had been given her when she was 2 years old by the beautiful Dss of Devonshire. Lady Westr’s mother took the Dss to see the child in her cradle at wh the Dss kissed her & left the turquoise heart for her. Lady Westr said her mother had told her that the Dss was not actually so beautiful as she was pleasing & fascinating. She died deeply in debt & a week before her death she sent to borrow of the D. of Sutherland (Lady Westrs brother) £1000 as she knew not where to turn. She would have a room splendidly furnished by one upholster & then sell all the furniture to another upholsterer to whom she previously owed money. She says the Duke of Devonshire was absorbed with gambling & betting & paid no attention to the Dss & let her go her own way. Then she spoke of the extravagance of her sister in law the Dss of Sutherland– When her daughter the Dss of Argyle was going to be confined the Dss of Sutherland wished that it should take place at Stafford Hse & she ordered one of the large drawing rooms which was beautifully hung with satin & had fine pictures to be prepared for the event. She had pictures & satin entirely covered with hangings of white & blue muslin! When Lady Blantyre married the Duke asked his sister Lady Westr what a trousseau ought to cost. She told him she thought £300 would do it very handsomely. To which he replied “Well I have just had to pay £3000 for my daughter’s.” We were very much entertained by Lady Westr’s recollections– She talks so well & is an inimitable mimic. She told us much abt her own early married life at Eaton with her tiresome mother in law—whom she said never allowed her controul over her own children but daily physicked them with calomel! to her annoyance “She said I did not know how to manage them. It is true I did not know much, but I should not have physicked them!” We dined at 7.30. Squire Burr had come to dine & sleep from Bath & he & I played cribbage in the eveng. | |
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